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northeastern Ohio | Our local newspaper had this graphic on their website today. I wish they would have one from 30 or 50 years ago to compare. I can't believe it has become this bad.
I went to United, which is a rural school with only one village (not big enough to be called a city) in the district. I can't believe that 18% (almost 1 in 5) miss over 10% of school days. There are only 180 days of school per year, which means these kids missed at least 18 days per year. What is going on today?
I guess I should look on the bright side. At least the rural schools did better than the city schools. The city schools are Columbiana, East Liverpool, East Palestine, Lisbon, Salem, Sebring and Wellsville. If you average them the city schools, you get 30% compared to the rural schools at 22%.
The worst school in our county, East Liverpool, says that they are making progress.... In 2021, they had 46% absenteeism and are now down to 37%...
The state of Ohio’s target rate is 12.8 percent. This includes excused and unexcused absences as well as suspensions. I understand that kids are going to miss school due to illness's, doctor visits, or other emergencies. But how can these chronic absentee kids ever catch up when they miss that many days of school?
I realize that each situation is different. But the kids that miss school are almost always the ones that end up with low income jobs or jobless. They are the ones that are more likely to end up in domestic violence situations or abusive households. Substance abuse and crime. And then their kids go down the same path. Vicious cycle.
Why do I care? Why should you care? It makes our communities worse. We are all impacted by it.
One solution has been suggested is that kids are required to attend 180 days per year. If the kid misses 20 days during the regular school year, then they need to go for an extra 4 weeks in the summer. Or they could do 20 Saturday schools during the school year. Or extra hours after school. Something to make sure that they don't fall behind.
Comment if you want or just ignore my rant. What can we do to improve this situation?
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Chronic absenteeism in local schools
